Wolfgang's photos with the keyword: Kanchanaburi
Inside the disputed Tiger Temple in Thailand
14 Jan 2011 |
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Contrary to my visits in 1999 and 2006, my most recent visit to the temple was a negative experience:
In the meantime, the temple has become a mass tourism destination. The entrance fee just for the temple is 600 Baht (15 €) per head now, and even a child of 18 months age has to pay the same. Only Thai citizens are exempt, they pay 300 Baht. Please bear in mind that keeping wild animals including tigers (which is illegal in Thailand) is very costly. At the same time, Thai authorities are doing their best to delay legalizing this location as long as possible, allowing them to make more money by demanding a large portion of the temple’s income from tourist visits under the table.
And last, but not least:
There’s nothing wrong in maintaining a temple for orphaned animals, and also earning the necessary income by charging entrance fees to support the temple and the animals is ok. I do however criticise local authorities for keeping the temple’s activities illegal. The only purpose for doing so is to gain access to a large part of the temple’s income, so that unscrupulous local officers can fill their pockets – and that’s certainly not ok.
Inside Wat Wang Wiwekaram
16 Oct 2010 |
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Construction of the famous Wat Wang Wiwekaram started in 1982 under the direction of the Abbot Luang Pho Uttama. It was built in similar style to the Buddhagaya Temple in India and is now a pilgrimage site for Indian Buddhists living in Thailand. 400 Mon people fabricated 260,000 bricks and donated a majority of the money used in the shrine’s construction.
Bridge to Sangkhlaburi the city of the Mon people
16 Oct 2010 |
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It is the longest wooden bridge in Thailand linking Sangkhlaburi and Mon Villages. The bridge overlooks a scenic landscape and offers and opportunity to see local people’s way of life.
As the eastern Mon were absorbed into the Thai society long ago, the western Mon of Myanmar have settled in western Thailand after World War II and try to keep their sovereign tradition. In Myanmar, the Mon are fighting to preserve the Mon language and culture, and regain a greater degree of political autonomy.
Idyllic scene on Khao Laem Dam
16 Oct 2010 |
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Most of the small villages and settlements along the lake shores have floating houses. Some of them work also as guesthouses.
Mueang Pilok, Thailand
11 Nov 2007 |
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This village is inhabited most by the Burmesian minority the Karen tribes and just about 500 Meters away to the Burmesian border
Sangkhlaburi the city of the Mon people
16 Oct 2010 |
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Wangka (also known as Monside) on the other side of the Bridge is well worth visiting. The village was founded by Luang Phor Uttama in 1949 after he fled Burma with 60 other Mon Families. Uttama passed away in 2006 and since then, the village has been in mourning. This only applies to the Wangka, not Sangkhla. Many of the villagers speak Mon as their first language, so they cannot understand our Thai.
Sangkhlaburi is an idyllic place and well worth visiting as it is off the tourist trail and thus great for the tourist who wants to see "real Thailand" (whatever that is). The place is well known to Thais who come here for relaxing weekends away, or alternatively parties on the floating houses. We experienced clashes between Mon and Thai youth on the bridge area.
Kanchanaburi War Cemetery
16 Oct 2010 |
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The prisoner of war base camp through which most of the prisoners passed on their way to other camps. It was created by the Army Graves Service who transferred to it graves along the southern half of railway, from Bangkok to Nieke. More than 5,000 Commonwealth and 1,800 Dutch casualties are buried or commemorated in the cemetery. The cemetery was designed by Colin St Clair Oakes.
Hellfire pass
16 Oct 2010 |
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Hellfire Pass was a particularly difficult section of the line to build due to it being the largest rock cutting on the railway, coupled with its general remoteness and the lack of proper construction tools during building. A tunnel would have been possible to build instead of a cutting, but this could only be constructed at the two ends at any one time, whereas the cutting could be constructed at all points simultaneously despite the excess effort required by the POWs. The Australian, British, Dutch and other allied Prisoners of War were required by the Japanese to work 18 hours a day to complete the cutting. Sixty nine men were beaten to death by Japanese and Korean guards in the six weeks it took to build the cutting, and many more died from cholera, dysentery, starvation, and exhaustion. However, the majority of deaths occurred amongst labourers whom the Japanese enticed to come to help build the line with promises of good jobs. These labourers, mostly Malayans (Chinese, Malays and Tamils from Malaya), suffered mostly the same as the POWs at the hands of the Japanese. The Japanese kept no records of these deaths.
The railway was never built to a level of lasting permanence and was frequently bombed by the Royal Air Force during the Burma Campaign. After the war, all but the present section was closed and the line is now only in service between Bangkok and Nam Tok.
Chat under Karen women in Baan Pi Lok
16 Oct 2010 |
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Karen refugees in a close-by village called Baan Pi Lok live stateless already for many years without the permission to leave their territory. For the two young boys an uncertain future.
Preparing Mohinga
16 Oct 2010 |
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Mohinga is a Burmese dish, rice vermicelli in fish soup and considered by many to be the national dish of Burma. It is readily available in most parts of the country. In major cities, street hawkers and roadside stalls sell dozens of dishes of mohinga to the locals and passers-by. Although mohinga is available throughout the day, it is usually eaten as breakfast.
This Karen woman prepares a banana shrub which inside pith is used for this soup as a very delicious ingredient.
Baan Pi Lok
16 Oct 2010 |
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When I came here several times I met some Karen people who did remember me. No many foreigners pass this last point in Thailand close the border to Burma.
One of the three pagodas
16 Oct 2010 |
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The region is home to several hill tribes, including Karens and Mons, who are unable to obtain citizenship from either countries. Separatist armies have repeatedly tried to take seize of the pass from Burma, with the Mons in effective control until 1990, when Burmese troops regained it.
Border pass to Burma (Myanmar)
16 Oct 2010 |
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When I came her the first time in 1985, this border was open for foreigners to step 200m into Burma. There was a smuggling market which is now only located on the Thai side. At the moment we came in Nov. 2009 the border line was absolutely closed for all kind of passing due a serious skirmish between Thai and Burmese border guards.
At the background still are the remains of the Japanese Death railway, which would go 460 km further to Rangoon.
Remains of the railway at the Three Pagodas Pass
16 Oct 2010 |
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During World War II, Japan built the infamous Death Railway (officially Taimen - Rensetsu Tetsudo) through this pass. Some parts of the original rail track still is to see.
A view over Khao Laem Reservoir
16 Oct 2010 |
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Sangkhlaburi is a sleepy town of only 15,000 people from many ethnic backgrounds. There aren't only Mons but the Karen, Thais, Chinese, Lao and even Arakanese and Bangladeshis too.
This ethnic diversity makes Sangkhlaburi district unique in Thailand.
Sangkhlaburi is also known for its 400m long wooden bridge that spans across the Khao Laem Dam to connect the Mon village "Wang Kha" with the Thai and Karen parts of the town.
This bridge was constructed in 1993 and has even attracted Thai and foreign movie teams!
Despite its hundreds of years old history, today's Sangkhlaburi is a new town. When an hydroelectric Dam neared was compleded in 1984, old Sangkhlaburi had been demolished and the new town was created on higher grounds. All that remains of the past are the half-submerged structures of the old Mon-Temple and the basements of several buildings.
Wat Wang Wiwekaram in Sangkhlaburi
16 Oct 2010 |
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The temple was built on the donation of villagers who had faith in Abbot Uttama. It is the shrine of Mon's pride and the most important temple of Sangkhlaburi.
Thousands of pilgrims make their way annually to the lakeside monastery, where U Uttama’s body lies. Many take weekend breaks at the lake, boarding boats for trips out into the mysterious waters to see the ruins of the indundated village beneath its surface - the foreigners among them usually unaware of the real-life, still unresolved mystery that lurks behind the walls of Wat Wang Wiwekaram.
Chedi at Wat Wang Wiwekaram in Sangklaburi
16 Oct 2010 |
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The landmark is the 59-meter high replica of Chedi Buddhakhaya. The top of the Chedi contains Buddha's relics from Sri Lanka.The shrine houses "Luang Por Khao", a large white marble Buddha image. Near the lake is an exotic bell tower built in Mon architecture.
River Kwai bridge
16 Oct 2010 |
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The bridge over the River Kwai in Nov 2009. The round truss spans are the originals; the angular replacements were supplied by the Japanese as war reparations.
The notorious Burma-Siam railway, built by Commonwealth, Dutch and American prisoners of war, was a Japanese project driven by the need for improved communications to support the large Japanese army in Burma. During its construction, approximately 13,000 prisoners of war died and were buried along the railway. An estimated 80,000 to 100,000 civilians also died in the course of the project, chiefly forced labour brought from Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, or conscripted in Siam (Thailand) and Burma (Myanmar). Two labour forces, one based in Siam and the other in Burma worked from opposite ends of the line towards the centre.
(By the way: most of the people call this bridge with a wrong pronunciation, (Kwai "ai like in the word "Shanghai", which would mean "Buffalo river".
I was learned this is wrong!
The word "Kwai" should be pronounced with "ey" or "aei" like in the word "Hey" and it means "the river spreads into two rivers, in Khwae Noi River (small river) and Khwae Yai River (big river).
The rivers name Kwai hasn't its name from the thai name Kwai กระบือ = buffalo.)
Here two photos showing the bridge after its destruction:
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